At least five U.S. police were hit by gunfire during violent protests
over the death of a black man in police custody, police and media said,
hours after President Donald Trump vowed to use the military to halt
the unrest.

Demonstrators set fire to a strip mall in Los Angeles, looted stores in
New York City and clashed with police in St Louis, Missouri, where four
officers were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries
after being shot.

A police officer was also shot during protests in the Las Vegas Strip
area, The Associated Press said, quoting police. Another officer was
"involved in a shooting" in the same area, the agency said without
giving details.

U.S. officials vowed to “maximize federal law enforcement presence” in
the nation’s capital Monday night after days of violent demonstrations
led to fires across Washington and left scores of businesses with
broken windows and dozens of police officers injured.

In a call with governors, President Donald Trump and Attorney General
William Barr also encouraged more aggressive action against those who
cause violence during protests across the country following the killing
of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis
policeman pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after
Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air. The demonstrations have
turned violent in several cities, with fires ignited in Lafayette Park
across from the White House.

The comments from Trump, Barr and other federal officials appeared
aimed at avoiding similar scenes Monday night, when protesters were
expected to gather again. But there were also questions about whether
using more aggressive law enforcement measures against demonstrators
protesting police brutality would only increase tensions.

The Trump administration’s struggles to get control of violent
nationwide protests has sparked comment and criticism from even some of
America’s staunchest allies, potentially driving a wedge between the
U.S. and its partners as demonstrations spread around the globe and the
U.S. seems paralyzed by an onset of crises.

A week after George Floyd died during a confrontation with Minnesota
police, the racially charged firestorm has taken hold in all corners of
the world.

America’s main adversaries seem to be taking delight in the unrest.
China and Iran are openly mocking the U.S. and claiming that the
nation’s deep-rooted racism and ineffective political system have led
to an inevitable reckoning.

Black conservative leaders are finding common ground with their liberal
counterparts on a host of police reform policies in the wake of the
death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police officers,
including de-escalation tactics, ending civil assets forfeiture and
holding bad officers accountable.

“Four people for one person is ridiculous,” said Marie Fischer, a
member of the black conservative group Project 21, referring to the
number of officers who helped restrain Mr. Floyd while one of them
knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25. “And they stopped
him all for a counterfeit $20 bill?”

Liberal and conservative black leaders are beginning to coalesce around
similar ideas in the wake of high-profile police killings of unarmed
black males.

A new outbreak of Ebola has ignited in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, which is still trying to stamp out an Ebola outbreak from
2018—and is now also battling a massive measles outbreak and COVID-19.

The new Ebola outbreak is in the western city of Mbandaka, the capital
of the Équateur Province. The city—situated at the junction of the
Congo and Ruki Rivers—is a major trade and travel hub and home to more
than 1 million people.

On Monday, June 1, 2020, officials confirmed an outbreak with six cases
so far (three confirmed, three probable). Four of the cases have died,
and two are being treated. The World Health Organization reported that
officials expect to find more cases as outbreak responses ramp up.

Gun sales surged in May as shops reported an uptick in interest and
demand amid national protests after the Memorial Day killing of George
Floyd and as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc and stoke fear across
the country.

“Almost, you couldn’t even keep up with it. That’s how crazy it was,”
said Joe Hawk, owner of Guns & Roses in New Jersey. “After Memorial
Day, it spiked again. It just went crazy again.”

Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, a private research firm,
estimated that more than 1.7 million guns were sold in May, an 80% jump
from May 2019.

Joe Biden could seize the number of delegates needed to formally clinch
the Democrats’ presidential nomination on Tuesday as seven states and
the District of Columbia push through a pandemic and exploding racial
tensions to host the largest slate of primary elections in almost three
months.

Voters will be asked to navigate curfews, health concerns and a sharp
increase in mail balloting as elections take place from Maryland to
Montana. Four states were originally scheduled to vote in April but
delayed their contests because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Pennsylvania offers the day’s biggest trove of delegates and represents
a high-profile test case for Republicans and Democrats working to
strengthen their operations in one of the most important general
election battlegrounds.

“We think we’re prepared,” said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy
Patton Mills. “Thank goodness we have the opportunity of working this
out in the primary because we don’t know where we’ll be with the
pandemic in November.”

Why is anybody surprised to see the racial extortion, lawless rioting
and selfish looting in the streets of America’s big cities today — all
in the name of an unarmed black man named George Floyd, who died in
police custody last week?

There is a whole political party in America today that is entirely built upon such racial exploitation.

Democratic Party leaders in Washington do not actually care about the
hardships of blacks in America today. They simply want to weaponize
those hardships into votes year after year after year.

In reaction to the 2008 recession, Congress and the Obama
administration passed what was the largest stimulus package in U.S.
history. But budgetary illiteracy has hit new levels. Expenditures
intended to soften the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic has already
tripled that record. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Speaker Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues in the House now want to
double down. In May, the House passed the Health and Economic Recovery
Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, or HEROES Act—an 1,800-page, $3
trillion grab bag spending bill. The centerpiece of the bill is a $1
trillion bailout of local and state governments that have mismanaged
taxpayer dollars for decades.

Illinois is “Exhibit A.” At the close of fiscal year 2019, the state
had $137 billion in unfunded pension liabilities — a $6 billion
increase compared to the previous year despite record breaking
contributions to the fund. More than one-quarter of the state budget is
expected to be engulfed by pension costs in 2020. According to a recent
analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute, depending on the job,
between 43 percent and 94 percent of public employees will collect
retirement payouts in excess of $1 million.

" It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit."-- Noel Coward (1899-1973) British playwright

Medal of Honor

The
Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an
enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the
Armed Services of the United States.
GeneTrerally
presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of
America in the name of Congress.
The first award of
the Medal of Honor was made March 25, 1863 to Private JACOB PARROTT.The
last award of the Medal of Honor was made September 15, 2011 to
Sergeant DAKOTA MEYER.

Since then there have been: • 3458 recipients of the Medal of Honor.
• Today there are 85 Living Recipients of the Medal of Honor.

Citation

Captain
Humbert R. Versace distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism
during the period of 29 October 1963 to 26 September 1965, while
serving as S-2 Advisor, Military Assistance Advisory Group, Detachment
52, Ca Mau, Republic of Vietnam. While accompanying a Civilian
Irregular Defense Group patrol engaged in combat operations in Thoi
Binh District, An Xuyen Province, Captain Versace and the patrol came
under sudden and intense mortar, automatic weapons, and small arms fire
from elements of a heavily armed enemy battalion. As the battle raged,
Captain Versace, although severely wounded in the knee and back by
hostile fire, fought valiantly and continued to engage enemy targets.
Weakened by his wounds and fatigued by the fierce firefight, Captain
Versace stubbornly resisted capture by the over-powering Viet Cong
force with the last full measure of his strength and ammunition. Taken
prisoner by the Viet Cong, he exemplified the tenets of the Code of
Conduct from the time he entered into Prisoner of War status. Captain
Versace assumed command of his fellow American soldiers, scorned the
enemy's exhaustive interrogation and indoctrination efforts, and made
three unsuccessful attempts to escape, despite his weakened condition
which was brought about by his wounds and the extreme privation and
hardships he was forced to endure. During his captivity, Captain
Versace was segregated in an isolated prisoner of war cage, manacled in
irons for prolonged periods of time, and placed on extremely reduced
ration. The enemy was unable to break his indomitable will, his faith
in God, and his trust in the United States of America. Captain Versace,
an American fighting man who epitomized the principles of his country
and the Code of Conduct, was executed by the Viet Cong on 26 September
1965. Captain Versace's gallant actions in close contact with an enemy
force and unyielding courage and bravery while a prisoner of war are in
the highest traditions of the military service and reflect the utmost
credit upon himself and the United States Army.

From the Archives

We Have Met the Enemy…Geoff Metcalf

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.--Benjamin Franklin“The American people must be willing to give up a degree of personal privacy in exchange for safety and security.” --Louis Freeh

In
the wake of the clamor over the most recent WikiLeaks data dump, ‘Vault
7’, ‘UMBRAGE’, et al, it should be noted this is not really anything
new. What we are seeing here is simply the evolution of something that
goes back to the late 50s (to the incomplete best knowledge I have).

In April of 1998 I wrote
“Privacy has become an anachronism.” I was commenting on “a massive
system designed to intercept all your e-mail, fax traffic and more.” I
was explaining ‘Echelon’, the illegitimate offspring of a UKUSA Treaty signed by the United
States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Its purpose
was, and is, to have a vast global intelligence monster, which
allegedly shares common goals. The system was so “efficient” that
reportedly National Security Agency folk from Fort Meade could work
from Menwith Hill in England to intercept local communications without
either nation having to burden themselves with the formality of seeking
approval (a court order) or disclosing the operation. And this was all
pre-9/11 and pre-the anti-constitutional 'Patriot Act'.

It is
illegal (without a Judge’s signed permission) for the United States to
spy on its citizens … kinda. The laws have long been circumvented by a
mutual pact among five nations. Under the terms of UKUSA agreement,
Britain spies on Americans and America spies on British citizens, and
then the two conspirators trade data. A classic technical finesse. It
is legal, but the intent to evade the spirit is inescapable.

I
often fictionalized the genesis of ‘Echelon’ as an informal meeting of
a group of post war American and British intelligence types drinking in
some remote rustic bar. An imagined CIA type complains to his MI6 buddy
about the hassles of US laws preventing US intelligence from
surveillance of bad guys, and the Brit echoes the same complaint.

“Hey wait a moment mate,” says Nigel, the make-believe MI6 guy, “I can
spy on your guys and you can spy on our bad players…why don’t we just
come up with a mechanism whereby we spy on your villains, you spy on
our villains, and we just ‘share’ the intel?”

This system was
called ECHELON, and has been kicking around in some form longer than
most of you. The result of the UKUSA treaty signed by the United
States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand was, and is,
to have a vast global intelligence monster which allegedly shares
common goals.

The London Telegraph reported in December of
1997 that the Civil liberties Committee of the European Parliament had
officially confirmed the existence and purpose of ECHELON. “A global
electronic spy network that can eavesdrop on every telephone, e-mail
and telex communication around the world will be officially
acknowledged for the first time in a European Commission report. …”

The report noted: “Within Europe all e-mail, telephone and fax
communications are routinely intercepted by the United States National
Security Agency, transferring ll target information from the Eurv opean
mainland via the strategic hub of London, then by satellite to Fort
Meade in Maryland via the crucial hub at Menwith Hill, in the North
York moors in the UK.

“The ECHELON system forms part of the
UKUSA system but unlike many of the electronic spy systems developed
during the Cold War, ECHELON was designed primarily for non-military
targets: governments, organizations and businesses in virtually every
country.”

An interesting sidebar appeared in the International
Herald Tribune under the headline, “Big Corporate Brother: It Knows
More About You Than You Think.” The story details Acxiom Corp, which
was a humongous information service hidden in the Ozark foothills.
Twenty-four hours a day, Acxiom electronically gathered and sorts all
kinds of data about 196 million Americans. Credit card transactions and
magazine subscriptions, telephone numbers, real estate records,
automotive data, hunting, business and fishing licenses, consumer
surveys and demographic detail that would make a marketing department’s
research manager salivate. This relatively new (legal) enterprise was
known as “data warehousing” or “data-mining”, and it underscores the
cruel reality that the fiction of personal privacy has become obsolete.
Technology’s ability to collect and analyze data has made privacy a
quaint albeit interesting dinosaur.

The Tribune reported that
“Axciom can often determine whether an American owns a dog or cat,
enjoys camping or gourmet cooking, reads the Bible or lots of other
books. It can often pinpoint an American’s occupation, car and favorite
vacations. By analyzing the equivalent of billions of pages of data, it
often projects for its customers who should be offered a credit card or
who is likely to buy a computer.”

Most of this information is
from y 1998 piece. Echelon has developed, matured, and morphed
into a much more powerful hybrid. ‘Carnivore’ was software to help
triage the cacophony of data. Vault 7 and ‘Umbrage’ are logical (some
would argue “insidious”) growth.